The Eagle's Nest

Built by the Nazis as a 50th birthday present for Hitler in 1939, the Kehlsteinhaus or "Eagle's Nest" is constructed at the summit of the mountain Kehlstein and offers commanding views of the Bavarian Alps with views into southern Germany and toward Salzburg, Austria. The building sits at the top of a shaft bored into the mountain where an elevator whisks visitors up over 400 feet into the center of the structure.


Visitors walk down a long tunnel to the elevator entrance (which felt errily similar to Disney's Haunted Mansion amusement park ride).

We had risen early and were among the first visitors to the Eagle's Nest. Once at the top of the mountain, we had the run of the top of the mountain and were blessed with clear weather and fantastic views of the surrounding mountains and valleys.

The Eagle's Nest is not exactly at the summit, and we walked up the ridge to look down on the building, surrounded by the lush valleys below. Obersalzburg is the mountain community literally on the border between Germany and Austria. It is incredibly picturesque. It is one of the few communities in which the locals continue to wear the traditional dress - dirdl (female dresses, think Oktoberfest), tracht (embroidered linen and felt clothing, depicting a "Country Estate" style) , and lederhosen (leather, knee-length pants). You feel like you have been transported back to a simpler time. The beauty of the mountains and the deep commitment to tradition of the locals made us feel priviledged to visit.

Natural beauty surrounded us everywhere. We were blessed with incredible weather. When the clouds roll in, you can't see anything. Given that we only had a few hours in our time window before we had to start driving home, we couldn't have been more pleased. Thank you Lord.

Look at this view. Possibly one of my favorite pictures of us. Another thing I love about Europe - so few handrails. Can you imagine this in the US? We had an opportunity to go to the edge of the mountain and look (very carefully) over. Wow.



Here are the clouds rolling in, as I mentioned. It went from sunny and bright to overcast in 1 minutes. It was amazing to experience. Complaining about weather is a human pastime, but you don't realize true volatility until you visit a mountain top.

Another gorgeous sky - piercingly blue with fluffy, cotton-ball clouds. The sunrays filtering through made it seem almost surreal.

With the change of weather came our chance to visit the house. It is in virutally prestine shape. It has been well maintained, and given that it wasn't destroyed, again we felt like we were walking through history. The fireplace in this room is very cool (and sadly, I didn't get a good picture). Originally a gift from Mussolini, the beautiful red marble has taken a beating. Apparently, when the American forces liberated this facility, some soldiers wanted to take home a souvenir with them and chipped off bits of the marble mantle.

This is the impressive elevator. The objective was to overwhelm visiting dignitaries and the grandeur was indeed impressive. I couldn't get a good picture of it on the way up, but as we toured around, I got a chance to snap this picture.

If you have seen "Band of Brothers", this next picture will look familiar. Easy Company of the 2nd Battalion 506th Regiment, US 101st Airbourne Division claims to have been first to capture the Eagle's Nest. (Side Note: Several others have claimed to be first as well, but Kehlsteinhaus's museum states that it was captured by a member unit of the US 101st Airborne Division, so that gives legitimacy to their claim. Chalk up a victory for accurate historical reporting from Hollywood.) Photographs and newsreel footage show 3rd Infantry soldiers relaxing on the Eagle's Nest patio, "drinking Hitler's wine". This scene was captured in Band of Brothers on this patio.

Instead of taking the elevator back down again, we decided to walk the path down to meet our bus. It is only a 30 minute walk, and we were excited to see more of the mountain. Clouds, however, enveloped us again just after we had started down. We had a little fog, rain and sunshine. What a fantastic trip. D's co-worker was right. This was a "must-see."